Are We Desperate Yet?

Yglesias provides the best argument yet for Canada-style socialized medicine: socialized medicine makes it easier for young folk to make music popular with wealthy American white kids! Sounds good to me. But is it even true?

A very quick glance at the Pitchfork best recent list reveals (without actual counting) something like 10% Canadianness. Is that high or low? I think Canada's population is just shy of 10% the US's. So that doesn't strike me as Matt's “indie rock dominance.” Oh well.

It's true, though, that socialized medicine is probably the best deal when you you're young and don't actually need medical care. As Canadian medical entrepreneur Dr. Brian Day put it this New York Times article about Canada's hungry uptake of newly legal private service:

This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years.